Bayerische Motoren Werke AG said Oct. 8 that it has formed a joint venture with Portuguese IT company Critical Software SA to focus on mobility and automotive software engineering.

The new company called Critical Techworks will use data from BMW to create business models and develop knowledge-based products, such as in-car infotainment and digital services, autonomous transport systems for production, and digital sales and aftersales platforms.

BMW owns 51% of the joint venture, but both BMW and Critical Software have equal representation on the company's management team.

Critical Software's Rui Cordeiro and Paulo Guedes have been appointed CEO and CFO of the new business, respectively. Meanwhile, BMW's Jochen Kirschbaum and Martin Zierheim have been named COO of onboard applications and COO of offboard applications, respectively.

The new company already employs around 200 people in Lisbon and Porto in Portugal. It plans to increase the staff size to 500 in 2019.